PORT CLINTON - As the students of Bataan Memorial Elementary School honored the fallen soldiers of “C” Company as well as U.S. military veterans, one local service member shared why he continues to serve: them.

Sgt. 1st Class Jeremy Schultz, a Port Clinton native serving in the U.S. Army, was this year’s guest speaker at the school’s annual Bataan Day ceremony, which honors the local “C” Company, 192nd Tank Battalion from Port Clinton, whose members were among hundreds of American victims of the Bataan Death March during World War II.

“I used to walk to school here every day, just like you,” Schultz told the students.

Born and raised in Port Clinton, Schultz attended Bataan Elementary School and graduated from Port Clinton High School in 1993. One of the things he remembers hearing growing up really stuck with him, “A team can change the world.”

“I was always part of a team — football, wrestling, track,” he said.

Schultz went on to earn athletic scholarship offers to several universities, but after graduation he took a year off before eventually enlisting in the Army in 1994.

“The team, the camaraderie, was what I always wanted,” he said. “I always felt a part of it.”

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Local students of Bataan Memorial Elementary honored the veterans for whom their school was named, those who made the ultimate sacrifice.(Photo: Jon Stinchcomb/News Herald)

Schultz excelled in the military as a natural leader.

“I was never a follower, I was always a leader,” he said. “I fit right into the Army. I fit right into the team, my squad.”

Schultz explained that as he rose in rank, he had more and more responsibilities as a leader.

“It’s not easy being a leader. You have to make good decisions at any given moment and you have to live with those decisions,” he said.

After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Schultz began training for combat. He was wounded on his first combat deployment, but returned from the injury and was deployed again.

“People ask me, ‘Why? Why did I join the Army?’ The reason I joined is so when you grow up — all you students here — you will have your freedom, your right to vote, your right to free speech,” he said. “A lot of the places I’ve been, people don’t have that.

“You have a wonderful education system,” Schultz told the students. “You can come to school knowing you can learn. You can strive to be anything in this world today.”

Schultz has been in countries where children could not go to school, where kids were mistreated and kept down. But Schultz said they fought for those kids and they are now able to get an education and have the same freedoms Americans enjoy.

“People ask me, ‘Why do I serve?’ So you don’t have to see the things that I’ve seen,” Schultz said. “You are our future.”